Thursday, November 3, 2011

What Do You See? ~ Exploration Thursday!

"And Then They Were Gone"

I couldn't wait to post this image. I felt like a little kid when I discovered the scene, felt like a little kid at christmas when I took the shot, and felt giddy as a little kid as I posted. And why?

Well... what do you see?

Your answer may be a bunch of leaves. And you'd be right. But when I was busy hiking past them and happened to glance over, I saw what looked like hundreds of butterflies launching into the autumn breeze. It stopped me in my tracks. The light was dappled, kissing some of the branches along the very edge of the escarpment, and it contrasted well with the forest floor in the gorge below. I did not think twice. I switched lenses (55-200mm telephoto), and I waited for the sun to come out from behind some clouds while I composed. And I carefully underexposed slightly to make sure the colors were rich looking without loosing any detail to too much shadow.

It felt whimsical, and dramatic, and I couldn't wait to post it. Even my husband, who is very used to my giddy outbursts when I get a shot that thrills me (and humours me by rushing over to give me a "nice one dear") took one look and said, "Whoa. That's cool... they look like butterflies!"

That sealed the deal folks.

I may play with this and do an abstract version as well... but for now it just needed some slight saturation and high pass sharpen applied for added oomph. Oomph is extremely technical jargon I know, but try to follow along. Where was I?

Right. I guess my tip for the day is don't be so boxed in to only looking for one type of shot, that you miss the other possibilities lurking in the middle of the ordinary. Ask yourself when out with the camera,
"Self... what do you SEE?"

2 comments:

  1. I LOVE this! I saw the exact same thing you did. How beautiful.

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  2. :) Thanks for the comment Heather! I'm so glad you think so. God's creation is magical when we train ourselves to really look hard enough! Have a fabulous weekend!

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